The Best Reading Tablets: Get the Right Tablet for Books and Comics

If all you want to do is read, the Kindle Paperwhite is hands-down the best tablet for the job. This e-reader keeps things simple, so don’t expect a colorful screen, stylus support, or access to emails, apps, and notifications. Instead, it eliminates outside distractions with a simple, easy-to-read display that prevents eye strain and helps conserve battery life.

The latest Kindle Paperwhite gets a slight bump in screen size, opting for a 7-inch e-ink display with a 300ppi resolution that should help reduce blue light and glare. It also comes with a new thin-film transistor to improve contrast. That, along with the 19 LEDs that wrap around the screen make for easy reading in just about any type of light, whether it's at the beach or in a dim tent on a camping trip. Adjusting the warm backlight in darker spaces is easy, but if you want automatic adjustments and a few other improvements, grab the Kindle Paperwhite Signature.

Compared to its predecessor, the new Kindle Paperwhite has a 20% performance boost, making for speedy page turns and smooth scrolling through a library of books. Its 16GB of storage may seem light compared to other tablets, but that’s plenty of space for thousands of books. Audiobooks will eat up more room, but cloud storage is available in the unlikely event you’re running low on space. Other features include text and font adjustments to skip readers and an easy-to-access dictionary. If you're a Libby user, you won't be able to download the app directly to your Kindle, but you can send borrowed books to your Kindle from the Libby app installed elsewhere.

The Kindle Paperwhite features a plastic build to keep things thin compared to your typical hardcover book, so forget about arm and wrist fatigue. Although it might not seem like the most durable design, it's sturdy and waterproof. Even with the compact dimensions, this e-reader manages a wild 12-week battery life on just a 2.5-hour charge. It’s easy to see why this is our favorite Kindle model.

The majority of Apple’s iPads have displays pushing 10 inches or more. For bookworms, those dimensions are a little too big, and iPhone screens are just a little too small. Enter the iPad Mini. The 8.3-inch tablet is about the size of a paperback and weighs 10.4oz. It’s easy to cart around just about anywhere and can be comfortably held in one hand when lying down and relaxing. Best of all, it still can do everything the top iPad models can.

Readers will gravitate towards the stunning Liquid Retina display with adjustable brightness and True Tone technology, ensuring a pleasant viewing experience from just about anywhere. Just be prepared for some glare. Pairing an Apple Pencil makes for easy annotations while you’re reading. However, that bright, colorful screen will deplete battery life far quicker than the e-ink display on the Kindle Paperwhite, lasting only 10 hours.

The latest generation of iPad Mini runs on an A17 Pro chip, the same one found in the iPhone 15 Pro. While that silicon is not as powerful as the M-series processors in the iPad Air and Pro models, it has plenty of oomph for the compact device and brings support for Apple Intelligence. Using all the top reading apps, like Apple Books, Amazon Kindle, comiXology, Libby, and Scribd will be breezy. Of course, it’s perfectly capable when you want to take a break from the pages, as scrolling socials, streaming, and performing everyday tasks will be just as zippy.

Looking to escape into the colorful world of comics? Maybe you want to start creating your own? Apple’s top-of-the-line tablet, the iPad Pro, is the best one for the job. Even with the massive 11-inch or 13-inch display, the device still manages to remain thin and lightweight.

It’s hard not to fall for the gorgeous OLED display on the iPad Pro. It’s a first for an iPad, and once you lay your eyes on it, it’ll be hard to go back to anything else. Vivid, accurate colors are complemented by excellent contrast, making just about any image pop. In IGN’s review of the iPad Pro, Jackie Thomas was particularly enamored with the display while devouring the Star Wars: The High Republic comics.

Such a stunning display requires a whole lot of processing power, and the iPad Pro’s M4 silicon is up to the task. It can easily take on heavy workloads, including gaming or design, with its 8GB GPU. Those looking to get creative by making comics or graphics novels of their own will find this tablet to be the perfect tool, as it’s designed to do just that.

The Apple Pencil Pro support could also take your artistic work to the next level while slapping a keyboard on the iPad Pro makes it a viable laptop replacement. Just be prepared for extras to add up quickly on this already pricey machine.

Apple isn’t the only brand pumping out capable reading tablets. OnePlus, the company behind some of our favorite smartphones, has an excellent option. The OnePlus Pad 2 offers up a spectacular 12.1-inch, 3K display with 10-bit color depth and HDR support. Beyond being crisp, vibrant, and clear, in our hands-on review of the OnePlus Pad 2, our tester could easily see the screen outside in the morning sunlight, thanks to an upgrade to brightness.

The OnePlus Pad 2 can hang with the best Android tablets, as it’s running on a snappy Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and 12GB of RAM. That’s plenty of oomph for the average user. Page turns should be instantaneous while scrolling through a library of books and swapping between reading apps will be butter-smooth. With 256GB of storage, this device can be packed full of novels, comics, audiobooks, and more. An included AI toolbox can also summarize articles or assist in writing to make life easier, while stylus support allows for simple annotations.

Given the dimensions and premium build of this tablet, it’s a bit weighty, so holding it one-handed for long periods isn’t comfortable. But it does manage to squeeze in an impressive 9,510mAh battery that lasted 12 hours in our testing. Even if the Pad 2 runs low on juice, support for 80W charging means it should be back to 100% in less than 75 minutes.

The Kobo Libra Colour is an e-reader that goes toe-to-toe with Amazon’s Kindle lineup. Its 7-inch display is the perfect size for reading, with plenty of room in the margins. Wider bezels on one side of the screen and a lightweight design make it easy to hold the device single-handed, while two buttons allow for simple page turns. Of course, it's possible to switch pages using the touchscreen as well.

Kobo opted for an E-Ink Kaleido 3 display offering a 300ppi resolution in black and white or 150ppi resolution in color. Unlike traditional tablets with bright, vibrant colors, this e-reader’s hues are more subdued, giving off the look of a newspaper. Still, graphics novels and comics will look great, as it adds a bit of life to the screen while allowing for easy viewing and minimal glare in bright sunlight. The ComfortLight Pro also makes for a pleasant experience when reading in darker spaces and helps to reduce blue light.

Inside the Kobo Libra Colour is a dual-core 2.0GHz processor that’s plenty responsive for most tasks. Page turns are snappy and navigating is an absolute breeze. Even taking notes is surprisingly fluid. The integration with the OverDrive library is also a nice perk. However, this e-reader is exclusively for reading and writing, so don’t expect to scroll socials or check emails.

Writing is supported on Kobo Libra Colour, as it’s compatible with the Kobo Stylus 2. Every Kobo book can be scribbled on with the stylus, while colorful highlighting of important passages can be done using a finger. Beyond marking up books, Kobo offers various notebooks for jotting down notes and sketching. Some are even capable of turning handwriting into text. If you want a larger display for notetaking, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is an excellent grayscale alternative.